Most of us were sitting in front of the TV or listening to the radio as I was on this day in 1998.  I went jogging and heard the final vote about a mile from home.  It was historic: a U.S. president impeached:

After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term.

As you may remember, the whole thing was about Monica Lewinski, the famous intern who did whatever she did in the Oval Office.  Of course, there was a more serious side to the whole encounter with the president.  The Starr Report outlined a case based on perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and abuse of power.  There were also some explicit details of the sexual relationship between the president and the intern.

It was enough to do the unthinkable: cover my young sons' ears when I was watching the nightly news.  Wonder how many other dads did the same thing?

Along with the impeachment, President Clinton ordered the bombing of Iraq.  It was crazy: images of the U.S. Air Force dropping bombs on one side of the screen and a busload of Democrats showing up at the White House to show their support for the embattled president.  Bizarre was the word.

It was the first impeachment since President Andrew Johnson in 1868, 130 years earlier.  I remember talking to my late father and wishing we'd never see another impeachment again.  Unfortunately, President Clinton and most of the principals of that impeachment got to see two more Trump impeachments, both outrageously political and partisan.

So I got to see three impeachments in 23 years.  I'm hoping we don't see another one for a very long time.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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